Fluid-pressure engine



' (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. G. SGHREUDER. FLUID PRESSURE ENGINE. No. 396,239. Patented Jan. g 1889.

(No Model.) 2 sheets-fsheet 2.

-J-. G. SGHR'EUD'ER. FLUID PRESSURE ENGINE. 4

No. 396,239. 9 Patented Jan. 1-5, 1889.

m'ven ron',

M AMMAM NITED STATES PATENT O FICE.

.IENS G. SGIIREI DER, OF SIVISSVALE, PENNSYLVANIA.

FLUID-PRESSURE ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 396,239, dated January 15, 1889.

Application filed April 28, 1888. erial No. 272,103. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern-.-

' movement is required.

Be it known that I, JENS G. SCHREUDER, a subject of the King of Sweden and Norway, residing at Swissvale, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Fluid-Pressure Engines, of which improvement the following is a specification.

The invention described herein relates to certain improvements in clectricallycontrolled fluid-pressure mechanism whereby power may be applied and released at a distance from the operator, and is especially adapted to the shifting of switches, signals, railway-gates, &c., or other devices where a comparatively short range of back and forth As a motive power I employ fluid under pressure and lead the same by suitable connections from the place of generation or storage to the point or points of use, where it is utilized by a suitable engine, the supply and exhaust to and from engine being regulated by a valve mechanism. In the present invention this valve mechanism is actuated by the same fluid-pressure which actuates the engine in a manner somewhat similar to that described and claimed in Letters Patent No. 358,520, granted March 1, 1887, to George 'Westinghouse, Jr. IVhere a number of such fluid-pressure mechanisms derive their power from the same source at a considerable distance therefrom and from the valve mechanism, and such mechanisms are kept in constant or frequent operation, the drain on the fluid-pressure supply will be very considerable. In order to avoid this waste and drain on the fluid-pressure supply, I provide for the establishment of an equilibrium of pressure on opposite sides of the piston of the engine when the same is to be operated by permitting the pressure on one side of the piston and its connections to pass through the valve mechanism to the opposite side of said piston and the connections thereto. After such equilibrium has been established, only so much fluid need be drawn from the source of supply as is necessary to shift the piston.

In general terms the invention consists in the construction and combination of mechanical devices or elements, all as more fully hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, Figure 1 is a sec-- tional elevation of my improved valve mechanism. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the auxiliary reservoir, the valve-case and valve being removed; and Fig. 3 illustrates by diagram a portion of a railway-track and switches, the latter being controlled by my improved mechanism.

On one end of the auxiliary reservoir 1 is formed a valve-seat,,2, for the reception of the valve 3, said seat and valve being surrounded by a case, 4, secured to the end of the reservoir, as shown. The reservoir is connected by a pipe, 5, to any suitable pressure'generating device or With a main storage-reservoir; (not shown,) and the interior of the valve-case is connected with the reservoir 1. by the opening 6, as shown in Fig. 2.

Through the valve-seat are formed the eX- haust-port 7 and supply-ports 8 and 9, the latter being connected by pipes 10 and 11 with opposite ends of the engine-cylinder 12. (See Fig. 3.) The valve 3 is constructed and proportioned to open the ports 8 or 9 at opposite ends of its stroke, and is provided with. a port, 13, adapted to connect one or the other of the ports 8 or 9 with the exhaust-port 7. In addition to above construction of valve, I provide a port or passage, 14-, through the valve 3, so constructed and arranged that at some suitable point in the movement of the valve,

preferably midway of its stroke, the ends of said port 14 will register with the ports 8 and 9, thereby affording a passage for the escape of fluid-pressure from one port to the other, as will be more fully hereinafter described.

To the opposite ends of the valve 3 are attached the rods 15, which extend out through stuffing-boxes 16 in the ends of the valve-case, and are connected to the pistons 17 and 17, arranged in the cylinders 18 and 18, formed 011 or secured to the ends of the valve-case. The outer ends of these cylinders are 0011- nected by the passages 19 19, ports 20-20 chambers 21 and 21, and ports 22 and 22 with the interior of the valve-case, as shown in Fig. 2. IVithin' the chambers 21 and 21 are the rods 23 and 23, having their ends suitably shaped, so as to close the ports 20 20 and 22 22", said rods being made a little shorter than the distance between said ports 20 and 20 or 22 and 22, so that the opening of one of said ports, as 20, will close the other, as 22. The rods are normally held up, so as to close the ports 20 and 20 by the springs 24 24, surrounding said rods and bearing at their upper ends against collars 25 25 and at their lower ends against the bottom of the chambers 21 21. The ends of the rods 23 are provided with stems 26 26, which serve to guide said rods in their movements. The rods 23 and 23 are shifted as against the action of the springs 24: 2 by the plugs 27 27, formed on or attached to the rods 28 23, which are in turn connected to the armatures 29 29 of the helices or coils 3O 30, which, when excited by the passage of an electric current, pull down the armatnres, depressing the rods 23 and 23 against the action of the springs 24 and 24, and thereby opening the ports 20 20 and closing the ports 22 22.

It will be observed that the springs 24c 24 serve not only to raise the rods 23 23, but also the armatures 29 29. The plugs 27 27 are arranged in chambers 31 31, which are connected to the passages 19 19, leading to the outer ends of the cylinders 18 1S, and with the exhaust-ports 32 32, leading to the open air. These exhaust-ports 32 32 are so arranged as to be closed by the plugs 27 27 when the latter are depressed, opening the ports 20 and 20, but open when the plugs are raised through the action of the springs 21 24 and the ports 20 20 closed. The chambers 21 and 21 are connected by a passage, 33, for a purpose to be hereinafter more fully described.

The operation of my valve mechanism is as follows, it being premised that the bindingposts 34 of the helices or coils 30 30 are connected by suitably-arianged conductors with switch or other make-and-break mechanism and a battery or other source of electrical energy. (Not shown.) The positions of the several parts, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, indicate that the helix or coil 30 has been discharged and the helix 3O excited, thereby shifting the several parts of the mechanism, substantially in the manner hereinafter described, to the positions shown. The operator now breaks the circuit through the helix 30, and when a change in the position of the valve 3 is desired closes the circuit through helix 30. Discharging the helix 3O permits the spring 24: to raise the rod 23 and plug 27, thereby closing the port 20 and opening the port 32, thus permitting the escape of fluid-pressure from the cylinder 1 8. The upward movement of the rod 23 not only closes the port 20, but also opens the port 22, permitting fluid-pressure to flow from the valve-case 4 to the chamber 21, thence through the passage 33 to the chamber 21, whence it passes by the port 20, chamber 31, and passage 19 to the cylinder 18, the port 20 having been opened by the excitation of the helix 30, thereby causing the armature 29 to descend, moving the plug 27 in front of the port 32 and push the rod 23 down, thus opening the port 20 and closing the port 22.

The admission of fluid-pressure into the cylinder 18 by the passage causes the piston 17 and with it the valve 3 and piston 17, to move to the left in Fig. 1, the fluid-pressure in the cylinder 18 escaping by the passage 19 and port- 32. As the valve 3 moves to the left, the port 8 is first covered, and then the ends of the passage 11 in the valve are brought into register with the ports 8 and 9, thereby allowing the fluid-pressure in the pipe 10 and that end of the engine'cylinder 12, with which the pipe is connected, to flow over into the pipe 11 until an. equilibrium of pressure is established in both pipes. As the valve 3 continues its movement to the left, the port 8 is connected with the exhaust-port 7 by the valve-port 13 and the port 9 uncovered by the valve. In this left-hand position of the valve the fluid-pressure escapes freely from the pipe 10, and suflicient pressure is admitted to the pipe 11 from the val ve-chest to effect the desired movement of the piston in the cylinder 12.

It will be seen from the above that as there 1 was no pressure in the pipe 11 prior to the shifting of the valve 3, as above described, the admission of pressure thereinto by con necting it with the pipe 10, in which the pressure is at maximum or working-point, would produce such a pressure therein that only a comparatively small addition would be necessary to raise it to an effective or working point.

In order to effect a shifting of the valve 3, it is necessary that one of the helices be ex cited and the other discharged-as, for example, if the circuit be closed through the helix 30 while the helix 30 is excited, the only effect would be to close the ports 22 and 32, thereby preventing the escape of any fluid pressure from the valve-case 3 and from both cylinders, and if the helix or coil 30 be discharged without charging the helix 30, there by closing the port 20 and opening the ports Y22 and 32, the only effect produced by such movements would be the escape of fluid-pressure from the cylinder 18.-

It will be observed that the pistons 17 17 are substantially integral in construction and would operate in substantially the same manner if arranged within the valve-chest, provided the actuating fluid-pressure be taken from the space between said pistons and ap plied against their outer ends.

I claim herein as my invention 1. In combination with a main or distributing-Valve of a fluid-pressure motor, pistons connected therewith and operated by fluid pressure on opposite ends thereof, and elec trically-actuated valves, each valve controlling the exhaust from one end of said pistons exhaust-ports 32 and 32, and passage 33, suband the admission of fluid-pressure to the stantially as set forth. I0 opposite end thereof, substantially as setforth. In testimony whereof I have hereunto, set

2; In combination with a main or distribmy hand. uting valve, pistons connected therewith for J ENS G. SCI'IREUDER. shifting said Valve in opposite directions, elec- \Vitnesses: trioally-actuated valves 23 23, passages 19 R. I-LWVHITTLESEY, 19, ports 20 20 22 22, valves 27 and 27, DARWIN S. WoLooTT. 

